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Amber Portwood: Matt Baier Engagement Is “Completely Different” From Tumultuous Past With Gary Shirley

Amber Portwood
Recently-engaged Amber Portwood tells Us Weekly about her future husband Matt Baier, and why their relationship is "completely different" from her tumultuous past with Gary Shirley.

She can’t wait to be hitched! MTV confirmed on Monday, Mar. 2, that Amber Portwood is engaged to her boyfriend Matt Baier, and the Teen Mom OG star tells Us Weekly that her life, in many aspects, has changed dramatically from when she was last on camera.

“It’s been a while since we’ve done this,” Portwood, 24, tells Us. “It’s kind of new because I’m sober… Our lives have changed so much. It’s a drastic change from before. But that’s kind of exciting for the new season.”

Related: PHOTOS: Teen Mom -- where are they now?

Indeed, the Sixteen and Pregnant star has transformed since her troublesome teenage years and her early 20s, when she was briefly engaged to Gary Shirley, the father of their daughter Leah, 6. (In June 2012, Portwood was sentenced to five years in prison, after she was arrested on drug possession charges. Prior to her pristine stint, she was also charged with domestic violence against her ex Shirley. The reality star was released from prison on parole in November 2013, after serving just 16 months.)

Related: PHOTOS: Teen Mom 2's most dramatic moments

“The big thing, I think, for me, is people are actually going to see me sober,” Portwood notes to Us of her lifestyle change. “I also have a fiancé now and he’s moving in.” As was teased in the dramatic trailer for Teen Mom OG, and confirmed on Monday, Portwood said yes to Baier’s proposal.

According to the mother of one, her engagement to Baier is nothing like her (rather tumultuous!) relationship with her ex. “How we are together compared to the way me and Gary were — it’s just completely different,” she shares, noting that her fiancé is “amazing.”

“I mean, he’s really funny. He’s really smart,” she tells Us. “He’s a lot older than me, but he’s mature and he can handle me. We have similar personalities. I think when you stop trying to look for somebody and you give up, [that’s] when I actually found him.”

Before the two met, Portwood didn’t think she would find love. “In my mind, I [thought to myself]: ‘I’m never going to find anybody I’m going to marry,'” she tells Us, saying the entire process has been “crazy.”

Related: PHOTOS: Celebs who have been to rehab

amber portwood and gary shirley
Amber Portwood and Gary Shirley

Teen Mom OG premieres Monday, March 23, at 10 p.m., on MTV.

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